Varna – the BEST city for living in Bulgaria
January 23rd, 2008
The Black Sea city of Varna enjoys the best living conditions for living and working in Bulgaria, according to a survey conducted by Darik Radio in association with Bulgarian daily newspaper 24 Chassa.
The research, carried out in October and November 2007, ranked 35 Bulgarian cities according to 40 criteria. These included the availability of green areas, the number of kindergartens, road conditions, public access to wireless internet, climate, investment, unemployment rate, recreational opportunities, cleanliness, signposting, facilities for disabled people, architecture, airport availability, parking and health service as well as the crime rate and various other benchmarks.
The study’s aim is to evaluate the quality of life in Bulgarian cities at the turn of 21st Century. The findings do not claim to be completely scientific because only some of the criteria could be assessed through statistics. Darik Radio’s listeners and 24 Chassa’s readers offered subjective evaluation of the other “quality” criteria.
Radosvet Radev, Executive Director of Darik radio, said that people living in the “best” cities would feel proud, and that residents and local governors of “under-performing” cities would be motivated to work harder to improve their surroundings. He noted that the Top 35 chart is not the culmination but rather the beginning of an ongoing process that will be followed closely by the media.
Assen Gagauzov, Regional Development and Public Works minister, said that 52 % of his Ministry’s programme, or € 800 million in absolute terms, will be allocated to restoration and infrastructure improvements in Bulgarian towns. This should result in towns to enhance their competitiveness. Real estate prices in the best-rated cities are likely to increase, Radev implied.
Here are the results of the study:
Top 5 Best Cities for Living in Bulgaria
1. Varna
2. Plovdiv
3. Veliko Turnovo
4. Sofia
5. Bourgas
